A whole new season...

Same team, same guys...much different outcome today. It looked more like the USA team we have come to respect and the rest of the world. It's not easy having a huge target on your back after winning World League last year, and then a Gold Medal in Beijing. Defending either of those won't be easy, but even more so World League is such a grind. I wrote about our first night of competition, we got waxed! Well, tonight we started the first game up 5-1 before Netherlands called a timeout...I could tell things were going to be different this afternoon. As a side note, our games were 5, yesterday, and 1:30, today, because in Europe the night just comes to end much sooner than our culture, so we start our matches out here much earlier than the typical 7 start times we are used to. Anyways, Matt Anderson was on fire tonight, he hit about .700 attacking from the backrow, he couldn't be stopped. Even when they put up commit block on him, pretty much that just means, the blocker knows its coming, they still couldnt stop it....Awesome to watch actually. Mattie, as we call him on the team, didn't go to his senior year at Penn State, instead took a 6 figure contract in South Korea to play pro there. Mattie won the natl championship as a junior at Penn State and was National Player of the Year, not bad. Most of the guys on our team play pro in Europe, a couple guys in Holland, Italy, Germany, and a couple in Russia....So our guys are familiar with some of the Dutch players and vice versus. Well....none of the dutch guys knew of Matt Anderson, but they sure know him now. He is a special talent, and a really genuine, down to earth guy. It's funny, at USC, I carried all of the gear I needed myself, and so now on the Natl Team, all of the younger guys like Mattie, Russell Holmes (BYU), and Jayson Jablonsky (UCI) have to carry nearly everything for me...its pretty cool. It makes going through the airport so much nicer, I don't have to hold up the line by taking out 5 computers, a projector, video camera, dvd player, printer....UgH, so glad those days are done.

Well after losing last night, I knew it was going to be a late night for the coaching staff, so I planned accordingly, I walked to the only open store at the time, a little gas station store and stocked up on Coke and candy (typical diet at times). I was good to go. Alan (Head Coach) had me doing a serving chart with Data Volley, and doing most of the shot charts. To explain a bit, Data Volley is a software designed by the Italians, it is what the modern volleyball world powerhouses use to stat and scout other teams. It gives me everything i could ever want on another team and their players. There is a scoutman, me, and we input code for an entire match, who served it where, who passed from what zone(1-9), who hit what set and where, and who dug that attack and in what zone...and so on and so forth. Its incredible software. Its a far cry from what they did back in the day. Rob Browning, who did my job in the 90s said they would get a tape of the match, and have two tape decks and have to fast forward till they got through every Rotation, 1-6, pausing and starting....he said it was the most tedious thing in the world. NO THANK YOU! So, to make this short and sweet, Data Volley saves coaches from being admitted to mental institutions. Rob has been a huge help to me on this trip. He is our team leader. What that means is he deals with all of the administrative things with the FIVB, and helps the coaching staff in whatever way he can. He is EXTREMELY good at it, he is very familiar with the international volleyball scene. He is the head womens coach at St. Mary's College in the bay area, he coached at BYU as an asst for a number of years before and during his time with the National Team. Where was I? Oh yea, so our late night. Well, Gary Sato, one of the assistants was having a tough time staying awake in his chair, he kept nodding off while watching the match video...so funny, he would sleep for 5 points or so, then wake up and start scouting again, not realizing he missed anything...it was entertaining! So us youngens...i.e. me and Alan, well not so much Alan, more so me. He and I stayed up till about 4am getting everything we needed to have for the guys at 9am video, I took a short nap at 4am and woke back up at 7, ichatted with Zoe before she went to bed, and I was just about to start my day...9 hour time difference is incredible. And just like that I started my day again!....It was a long but extremely fun first World League weekend...and I got my first win. Hooray! We dominated the game winning the first set 25-16, 32-34, 25-16, 19-25, 15-9....took us 5 sets, but we were in control the entire time.

Typing this took every ounce of energy I had left, so I'm off to bed at 9:30 here in Rotterdam, Netherlands, and its still sunny and bright outside.

I love you all, and will let you know how Amsterdam is once we get back tomorrow after taking a field trip.

Some pictures from our random trip to Antwerp, Belgium!